By a Vote of 52-48, California Approves Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

I went to sleep last night with hope in my heart that Proposition 8 would be narrowly defeated.  I awoke to find my worst fear.  Proposition 8 appears to have passed by a narrow margin of 52% to 48%.  Exit polls suggested that it would fail by a similar margin, but exit polls have been shown to be extremely flawed in recent years.  Besides feeling like a body blow personally, the voting demographics show an unbelievable, thought not at the same time unexpected, irony.  And I do not use that word casually.  One phrase that comes to mind is "separate but equal".  Another thought is that the state of California, through its courts, was the first state in the Union to allow interracial marriage in 1948 in a decision known as Perez v. Sharp.

According to polling, white voters voted decisively against Prop 8 and Latino voters voted slightly for it.  But African-American voters, the one minority who achieved the greatest personal success in this Presidential year, the one minority who had been more suppressed by and discriminated against in so many ways by the American majority in past years, the one minority who is experiencing the greatest increase in HIV positive Americans (both gay and straight) nationwide, the one minority who themselves had been so oppressed in marriage over the years by anti-miscegenation laws until the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that injustice in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 -- these same African-American voters went overwhelmingly for social inequality by about a 2-1 margin.  Perhaps now that the issue of same-sex marriage has been dealt with by legislatures, courts,  and citizens in most every state, where it has most often been used as a wedge to divide Americans, education and observation that same-sex unions are not a threat to "traditional" marriage or the children in those families, can continue.  On this particular issue, a concerted effort was made by "Yes on 8" groups to influence black and other minority churches, making one lesson obvious -- the "No on 8" side needed far more aggressive outreach and education to the African-American community on the issue of marriage equality.

There are three stories that do give me hope for the relatively near future.  Young Americans (including minorities), the next generation of voters, went hugely against Prop 8.  For the most part, just as these younger voters see race and gender differently from their parents and grandparents, they also see the fight for equality of gay Americans in a different light, whether it be in the military, same-sex marriage, or discrimination generally.  Secondly, the ruling by the California Court that overturned the previous ban against same-sex marriage only took away the word "marriage", not the rights and responsibilities.  Those are still legal and in force by legislation ("civil unions", if you will) passed by the California state government if you are registered with the state.  In addition, there are well over 10,000 same-sex marriages that are still currently legal in the state and at least by my understanding, this amendment cannot be applied retroactively.  As it has already done with same-sex marriage twice (though vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger -- another irony, as he wanted the state courts to decide the issue), my hope here is that the California Senate and Assembly will pass a true "civil unions bill" that at least provides some further state recognition of the validity and societal value of same-sex couples and their children.  The final story that gives me hope is that on the day just prior to the election, the Connecticut Supreme Court said that marriage equality would officially begin on November 12, 2008.

Nonetheless, after voting for a couple of decades for Presidents and Senators and Representatives in whom I was only provisionally supportive, I am exceedingly happy that I was finally able to cast a vote for a candidate that I actually believed in and was completely enthusiastic about -- President-elect Barack Obama.  At least for the next four years and hopefully eight, there will be someone that is in the White House who is not afraid to be supportive of issues that have been sidelined for years, including ending the ban on serving openly in the military, enforcing anti-discrimination laws at the federal level, passing hate crimes legislation, civil unions for same-sex couples and so forth.  And while I will be a bit subdued in the days and weeks to come in the midst of my great joy, if there is anything that this election has taught me in the middle years of my life, it is that one day I will be able to legally marry the one I love in the state of California, and also to KNOW HOPE.